I can remember growing up as a huge pro wrestling fan and going to the video store down the street as a kid to get whatever WWF pay per view had just come out on VHS (I’m really aging myself here, I know). Eventually, my love for pro wrestling waned. Once anyone goes through high school, wrestling isn’t exactly cool to watch anymore. Only in the last couple years have I periodically started to tune in again. (When you reach your twenties, you realize you don’t care what anyone else thinks anymore.) CM Punk tweeting that he wants to punch Colin Cowherd in the face only reinforces my admiration for him and the direction he’s currently taking WWE.

The reason I started paying attention to wrestling again was for one man – Ric Flair. At the time, Flair was being threatened with “retirement.” Of course, retirements in pro wrestling are about as legitimate as any Brett Favre retirement and Flair soon came back in another organization. Nevertheless, I had to see the supposed end of Flair’s career because even as a snot nosed Little Jimmy, I knew Flair was the gold standard for pro wrestling. He always had the best interviews, the best matches, the best robes, and the best women. Flair was the bad guy who was actually cool to cheer for.

At this point, we should interrupt this article to actually show the video of Ric Flair introducing the Red Sox lineup last night. After all, that’s my excuse for writing 500 words about The Nature Boy at AA. WOOO!!!!

Is it any wonder multiple arenas use Flair’s “WOOO!!” to spark the crowd? So many athletes could take a page from Flair’s book in the charisma department. It’s just sad to see Flair going through so many personal probelms and STILL wrestling at age 62. Did you know that he actually wrestled Sting on television last week… only 23 years after their first high profile match?!? And people think Joe Paterno is holding on for too long! At least he’s not flopping around a wrestling ring in his underwear. But, hopefully this tiny little video helps us to remember Ric Flair as the limousine ridin’, jet flyin’, wheelin’ dealin’, kiss stealin’ son of a gun instead of the real life Randy “The Ram” Robinson.

Flair is truly one of the great performers of this generation. Take a trip down memory lane (make sure your gas tank is full) back to 1992 and watch Flair win his first WWF title at the Royal Rumble. The video below is also great because it features perhaps the best announcing duo of all-time, Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “the Brain” Heenan. Hey, another semi-legitimate AA tie-in! Enjoy!